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Where: Brooklyn Windmill

Why: Time to take on longer and new suburban conditions. [Note travelled
over Haywards out to Porirua then off the motorway all the way to Brooklyn - good traffic experience Porirua - Tawa - Johnsonville - Khandallah - out to Karori then back to Brooklyn] Down to Newton to Mc D's Reverse route home.

Achieve What: Prolonged concentration in suburban traffic conditions, escape strategies, protecting your own riding space.

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Objective - With the Mentor's review completed on Sunday I proceeded to review my original training circuit in Stokes Valley for an hour and practice slow control including figure eight and u-turns. Also going up and over Holborn Drive and importantly here focusing on the left bends - I was able to appreciate my Mentor's remarks about how I was staying out quite wide unnecessarily so - I was able to find better and safer lines to take going up and over this part of the valley.

Parking

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This extract extends over three Parts and a OCPD review comment is contained at the end of Part 3.

Applying the 30-40-30 program this week saw new district: ventured up through Whitemans Valley out to Mangaroa and came out at SH2 Te Marua.

Heading back ducked in at Mt Marua and looked at the estate there then pulled into Supercheap Auto, got some Autosol polish. Coffee at McD's Silverstream.

Some serious practice taken up during the week at the Fraser

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On 10 April I wrote about breaking a friend's lovely V-Strom. He just got it back from the repairers and the damage to the bike cost $8,500. The damage to the car we landed on (a late model VW Golf) will probably be at least a couple of thousand more.

So the young guy who knocked us off (I think he's about 18 years old) will have a $10,000 debt before he really even gets started in his life. Plus the fines for not having a warrant or rego on his car. Plus whatever he still owes ...

Well Wanisami has had a slight hickup. The handle bars are in the wrong place, there is a tiny bit of play in the front (only about 11/2cm) and she is not impressed with the front end and doesn't want to play nice. So back to the work bench she goes.

My Kawashyt (a Kawasaki GPZ400R with Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha and Triumph parts fitted) street fighter project has started to make some progress; I have tracked down a GPX400 rolling chassis with great tyres and have sent the GPZ's triple ...

Well a day off to extend the Queens Birthday weekend has seen some progress on the pipes. Not much as I went for a ride - a cold one it was only 8 degrees!

The cones have their end cap inserts sorted and the outlet pipe has been welded in. These caps will be either riveted or bolted to the main cone. However it's just occurred to me I could arrange 3 internal bolts that would be hidden by the end cap.......hmmm (sounds fiddly!)

You can see in the picture where the ...

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In my second month of riding I was very fortunate to meet a very good person who lived in my suburb. He would be my mentor.:

Hey BuckBuck,
Nice to meet you today & put a face to the name. Keep up the practise & when summer rolls around you'll be ready to venture further afield.

1000kms....that's nearly from Welly to Cape Reinga....didn't know Stokes was that big……

Tragically he was killed six months later.

I have included in this extract ...

Whether one may consider my approach to learning to ride to be:

Obsessive
Practical
Cautious

Or

Transferring learning techniques gained from a military background.

I think this ‘transfer’ probably sums up the first three above. Why? Because at the end of the day, (if I got that far) my life, not may – but will, depend upon it.

My Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder over many years was full of ‘catastrophizing’ ...